


Paper Trail

by Pyreof_Books



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andreil Week 2018, M/M, This is really self indulgent, matt boyd likes rom coms FIGHT ME
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 19:24:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15153953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyreof_Books/pseuds/Pyreof_Books
Summary: Andrew goes to the DMV, Neil thinks his printed name is da bomb.Andreil Week 2018 Day Two





	Paper Trail

Andrew was starting to make the people at the DMV uncomfortable. He could tell because the cop was stationed behind him, the teeneagers waiting to take their tests were all quiet, and the woman in front of him was very tense. He maintained his bored expression. Truthfully, he was bored here. He had been waiting in this line for an hour already. He had already recited every stupid thing Kevin had said to him this week in his head, editing out the parts about exy. Surprisingly, the line had only moved up by one person by the time he was through with that. Andrew raced through a million more equally short lived trails of thought, an image of Neil assaulting his mind every so often. He pushed his thoughts away from him, though. That wasn’t the excitement he needed when in this zombified crowd.  
As a reliable fall back, he instead thought up a universe in zombie apocalypse mode, sifting through the arguments Renee and Neil had offered and casting aside or intertwining the useful or plausible bits. While he meticulously broke down every exit out of the city he could think of (Neil probably knew more) and a way to get to Germany should Nicky be there (he suspected Neil would know how to do that, too) the line moved up two more people. And so he continued for another two hours.   
***  
When Andrew returned to the dorm, it was past 6. Wymack, Neil, and Kevin were probably a little upset about practice, but Andrew couldn’t find it in him to care. On the ride to the dorm, he managed to smoke three cigarettes down to the filter and now had a hankering for ice cream. And Neil. Maybe both.  
However, his room was empty. Not a Kevin, Neil, or Nicky in sight. Andrew grabbed the ice cream out of the freezer and went to sit in a bean bag, pulling out his phone as he did.   
We wnt 2 the girls room to watch a movie. Ur welcome to join me on the couch ;)  
Idiot. Someone needs to teach him how to text. Nevertheless, he got up to join them, not bothering to put the ice cream down or knock. The door swung open to reveal Neil curled up on one couch, his hair being pet by Matt’s free arm while he held Dan close on the other couch. Renee and Allison were cuddling on the floor with their eyes fixed to a trashy rom com he knew Matt had suggested. Katelyn and Aaron were in the back corner, has hands around her waist as she sat in his lap. Nicky was next to the couch Neil was on, his hands typing away on his phone, so Andrew suspected he was chatting with Eric. Kevin was resting against Neil’s couch, close to Matt and with a bottle of Vodka near him, unopened. There wasn’t a baby Fox in sight.   
It was glaringly obvious that Neil had claimed the entire couch at the start of the movie in case Andrew showed up, and now that Neil saw him here he lit up into a bright smile only to immediately tap it down and gestured wordlessly for Andrew to join him. He did. After a quick ‘yes or no’ Neil curled into Andrew’s side on the opposite end of his original place on the couch, his head on his shoulder and legs splayed. With one arm Andrew continued to eat his ice cream, but he casually slung the other around Neil and assumed Matt’s job of playing with his hair. And so they watched the movie like that.  
Before long, the ever so shocking ending was underway and Matt was hiding small tears in Dan’s side, trying to play it off as a casual kiss on her cheek and not him wiping them away. Nicky was bemoaning the distance from Eric, and Neil was staring at Andrew.   
“Staring,” Andrew mumbled into his ear, quietly so the others wouldn’t be disturbed.  
“You make a better picture,” Though Andrew couldn’t see it, he would swear he could feel that familiar curve of his lips against his chest that was Neil’s smile. “Where were you today?” Neil asked.  
“DMV,” Andrew didn’t bother to tell anyone other than Wymack he wouldn’t be around today.  
“Oh Andrew that sucks. The DMV is horrible; long lines and crowds,” Matt offered, apparently having heard them. The past few weeks, Matt had been trying to open himself up more to Andrew, not calling him a monster and even attempting to threaten him if he went and hurt Neil. Sometimes he even bothered to tell Allison off for digging in low blows. Andrew found it odd, but was fine with Matt so long as Kevin wasn’t punched again.   
“Why did you go?” Nicky asked from his place by the couch. Apparently no one was interested in the final scene of this movie.  
“Had to put Neil on the insurance for the car. Who knows what trouble he’ll manage driving it,” Andrew deadpanned, not really believing Neil would crash his car but his penchant for danger is rather startling.   
The silence that followed this announcement should have been expected; Andrew had anticipated it and remained blank faced as ever, and Renee had always known how to roll with the punches. Everyone else gaped.   
“I see, so you’re saying Neil’s pretty face gets him car privileges while I-” Nicky cut off when Andrew gave him a soft thump to the head, and Andrew shot a quick glare around everyone else so they would no to keep quiet. Nicky was joking, his grin even wider after Andrew hit him. He could feel Neil staring at him, but he didn’t look his way. He was probably wearing that unbearable look when someone does something kind for him, like Matt patting him on the back after practice or Allison asking his opinion on an outfit.  
After that, movie night disbanded quickly and everyone made their way back to their own room. Another glare sent Kevin’s way had him scampering to spend the night in Matt’s vacated bed, as he had moved over to Dan’s room without comment. He must need more post movie cuddles, Andrew thought belatedly.   
As soon as Andrew and Neil made it back to their room, Andrew checked within himself to see if touching Neil was something he could do right then, and the immediate ‘yes’ he found was rather startling. The very idea of running his hands along those scarred sides made a tension he hadn’t noticed within himself uncoiling like a snake over a sun rock.   
“Yes or-” Andrew began.  
“I want to see.” Neil said, turning to face Andrew by the couch, a smile uninhibited on his face. Andrew forgot for a moment what he was going to ask and what Neil had said, focusing solely on the grin he had allowed Andrew to see. He found he liked it much, much better when Neil didn’t try to squash the urge to look like that around him. “The papers. Whatever you had to do today,” Neil clarified, after Andrew had stared at him (in wonder) for almost half a minute.  
Wordlessly, he pulled the papers out of his back pocket and tossed them to Neil, who eagerly looked them over with childlike fervor. Andrew went to the window, sitting on the desk and lighting two cigarettes. Neil joined him soon after, and Andrew noticed he kept running his hand over his name printed on the page, awestruck.  
“It’s weird to be able to have something so… mundane, as this. My name, coming from some official government building, no questions asked. No fear of having my fake ID picked out and getting caught over it,” Neil frowned. “Not that I have ever been in a DMV, though hearing Matt complain about it when he went for his registration was painful enough. Still, I’m real enough to be on this paper.”  
Neil caught him with those blue eyes, the you made me real enough, loudly unspoken, thanking him silently and profusely. Andrew hated him. “You can go next time, then. I’ll go get ice cream while you deal with a three hour line.”  
Neil laughed at that, throwing his head back and handing the pages back to Andrew whilst taking the cigarette. They sat in companionable silence while they finished their smoke, Neil unable to stop the upward curve of his lips.   
“Thank you,” He whispered as the last tendrils of smoke whised out the window. Andrew didn’t know how to respond to that.  
“Yes or no.”  
“Yes.”  
For the rest of the night, they enjoyed the empty dorm room, and Neil got to show Andrew just how much that inconveniencing trip to the DMV meant to him. Andrew just felt… content. The trip had been worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Better late than never! ....sorry.  
> I like the idea of Andrew being outwardly impervious to the frustrating effects of the DMV whilst still being tense without knowing it. And Neil being the perfect relief ;;;)


End file.
